Category Archives: New Releases

The Fall, Ersatz G.B. (Cherry Red/MVD)

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My review of the latest record by The Fall was published on LEO Weekly‘s Bluegrass Catastrophe blog today:

It’s tempting to compare vastly different eras of The Fall’s career to one another. After all, The Fall has been a going affair for front man Mark E. Smith for five decades now, with Ersatz G.B. being the latest in a long line of releases. So to make the comparison, the latest, 2012 incarnation of The Fall documented on Ersatz G.B. reminds me most of the relatively accessible mid-1980s version, especially the lineup that recorded the classic album The Wonderful and Frightening World of the Fall. Musically, the band flirts with a slightly poppier yet hard-edged sound, including an atypical “metal” number, driven by the steady rhythm section of Keiron Melling on drums and David Spurr on bass. What little of Smith’s garbled vocals I can make out involve his usual concerns – he’s been lamenting “the highest British attention to the wrong detail” since 1982’s Hex Enduction Hour.

Buy it here.

Jakob Olausson, Morning & Sunrise (De Stijl)

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My review of Jakob Olausson’s new album, Morning & Sunrise, was published in this week’s LEO Weekly:

From a part of the world where the sunlight is scarce in the wintertime, Swedish singer-songwriter Jakob Olausson delivers an album that, despite its deceptively luminous title, sounds almost as stark as a Scandinavian winter. All of Olausson’s songs on Morning & Sunrise are lyrically direct, sung as if in a relatively one-sided conversation, though musically they meander, with snaking electric guitar leads overlaid upon the foundation of Olausson’s reverb-drenched strummed acoustic. In a way, Morning & Sunrise is reminiscent of Alexander “Skip” Spence’s loner masterpiece Oar, but without Spence’s supposed drug-addled goofiness or his Nashville-produced influence on the music. Aside from the just-slightly-too-ramshackle song “Engraved Invitation,” Morning & Sunrise is a sober and serious affair, like a steaming hot cup of black coffee at the crack of dawn on a cold winter morn.

Buy it from De Stijl here.

200 Years, s/t (Drag City)

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This week’s LEO Weekly contains my review of the new album by 200 Years, the new project by Ben Chasny (Six Organs of Admittance, Rangda) and Elisa Ambrogio (Magik Markers):

At the conclusion of the Six Organs of Admittance show at Uncle Slayton’s back in August, Ben Chasny was joined onstage by singer Elisa Ambrogio, and the lucky audience was treated to a preview of their new band, 200 Years. The current concern for Ambrogio and Chasny, this self-titled debut on Drag City is superficially akin to Chasny’s Six Organs project as it features primarily acoustic guitars, delicately sweet melodies and the occasional accompaniment by harmonium. But the band is really Ambrogio’s showcase, as her voice dominates the album. However, unlike her usually confrontational work with Magik Markers, the overall aesthetic of 200 Years is one of dreamy, contemplative harmony between her voice and Chasny’s guitar. In songs such as “Partin Wayz” and “West Hartford,” there’s even a welcome sense of nostalgia and sentimentality, which gives 200 Years a sweet edge quite unlike anything previously by either artist.

Buy it from Drag City here.

Some Last-Minute Reviews for 2011

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Here are some short capsule reviews of some 2011 releases we didn’t otherwise get to over the past year.

Bill Orcutt, How the Thing Sings (Editions Mego) LP— Seemingly more aggressive than A New Way to Pay Old Debts, Bill Orcutt’s second “post-comeback” LP  How the Thing Sings still manages to showcase the occasional moment of beauty within what superficially may sound like a huge racket. Buy it here.

Nathan Salsburg, Affirmed (No Quarter) LP — We praised Salsburg’s duo record Avos with James Elkington, and we worked on the occasional show with him, so maybe you’re tired of reading about Nathan Salsburg’s deft guitar work and superb melodic sense in these pages. Well, guess what? Too bad. His solo debut, Affirmed, is every bit as good as Avos, perhaps it’s even better in its melancholy starkness. Can’t wait to hear more from Nathan in 2012. Buy it here.

Craig Colorusso, Sun Boxes (self-released) 7″ — One of the more pleasant surprises in our mailbox this year was this unassuming 7″ record documenting Craig Colorusso’s “Sun Boxes.” Basically they’re some sort of contraption that involves twenty amplifiers looping parts of a guitar chord and running on solar power, documented here in two different Massachusetts locations. Despite the short format, we look forward to hearing more. Buy it here.


The Parasites of the Western World, “Politico” b/w “Zytol Automation” (De Stijl) 7″  — Faithful repress of an obscure 1979 single by this band, recently resurrected by the same folks who brought you Michael Yonkers and 39 Clocks (so you know it’s gotta be pretty great). Late 1970s Eno-damaged glam-punk moves on the a-side, with a sparkling synth-driven instrumental on the flip. Highly recommended. Buy it (and their self-titled debut LP) here.

Silver Tongues, Black Kite (Karate Body) LP — This new Louisville band is both confounding and fascinating — the former because of their occasional “big rock” moves, the latter because of the clear gospel-via-Spiritualized influence we hear ringing throughout. Tough to grasp, in a good way, and hints at a possibly more interesting sophomore record. Buy it here.

Stare Case, Lose Today (De Stijl) LP — If you thought you were familiar with Nate Young and John Olson’s music through their “other” band Wolf Eyes, you may be in for a slight shock when you hear the much mellower — yet still intense — Stare Case. Lose Today is almost like a mash-up of their solo work as Regression (Young’s vocals and electronics) and Spykes (Olson’s electronics and reeds), which shouldn’t work, but does. Buy it here.

Mark McGuire, Get Lost (Editions Mego) LP — Excellent solo noodling by the guitar player in Emeralds, probably the best band to come out of Cleveland since, well, the 1970s. Reminiscent of our favorite Cluster/Harmonia/Eno records, but with an acid-drenched modern edge, which is no mean feat. Buy it here.

Void, Sessions 1981-83 (Dischord) LP — Void still sounds better than 99% of hardcore since. Buy it here.

Wooden Wand & The Briarwood Virgins, Briarwood (Fire)

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My review of Briarwood by Wooden Wand & the Briarwood Virgins ran in this week’s LEO Weekly:

The near-closing lines of the first song, “Well, it’s winter in Kentucky/And I’m all tapped out,” perfectly encapsulate the emotional desperation running like a crooked river throughout Wooden Wand’s ambitious new Briarwood. Recorded with a large ad-hoc ensemble of Alabama-based session players, Briarwood showcases the usually solo, Lexington-based Wooden Wand at his most musically accessible; it’s an album chock full of beautifully sung harmonies and well-played solos, overflowing with melancholic, defiant lyrics written from the perspective of scarred loners just trying to survive. In an era overpopulated with generic music masquerading trite sentiment as true insight, with hackneyed retro retreads posing as nods to “tradition,” the despondent personalities inhabiting Wooden Wand’s songs should earn him an appreciative audience akin to those enjoyed by the best American singer-songwriters. Alas, much as the characters of Briarwood well know, the small rewards eventually come to those who lower their expectations.

You can buy it from Fire Records here.

David Lynch, Crazy Clown Time (PIAS America)

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My review of David Lynch’s Crazy Clown Time ran in this week’s LEO Weekly:

David Lynch – director of such cinematic classics as “Eraserhead,” “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive” – has decided to try his hand at music. While both his masterpieces and near-misses (like his underrated adaptation of “Dune”) possess a fantastic musical sensibility, it’s difficult to discern why Lynch felt it necessary to inflict Crazy Clown Time on the public. At best, such as with album opener “Pinky’s Dream” (with guest vocalist Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs), Lynch retreads the gothic Americana creepiness present in most of his movies. At worst, which describes most of the album, he sounds like a comically impaired Neil Young — except without Young’s heart-tugging sentiment, simple lyrical genius, or compelling melodic sense. Crazy Clown Time plays like a bizarre hybrid of Young’s famous failure Trans mixed with the terrible techno of ex-porn star Traci Lords’ 1000 Fires — except not as enjoyable as either.

If, after reading that review, you still want to buy it, you can find it at http://www.pias-america.com.

James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg, Avos (Tompkins Square)

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This week’s LEO Weekly features my review of the new album by James Elkington & Nathan Salsburg, Avos:

Louisville resident Nathan Salsburg is an archivist for the Alan Lomax Archive and a music columnist for LEO Weekly. (Disclaimer: I’ve been friends with Nathan since middle school, and we occasionally collaborate on promoting musical events in town). What is perhaps less known by the public at large is Salsburg’s prowess at the finger-picking guitar style established in the 1960s and ’70s by John Fahey and others, as he’s previously only released one song, on the Tompkins Square label’s Imaginational Anthems compilation series. His new collaboration, Avos, with Chicago-based guitarist James Elkington, as well as his upcoming solo debut Affirmed, should definitely garner Salsburg some well-deserved praise as a guitarist. Avos is intricately composed, yet has a fresh, contemporary sound without feeling too gimmicky or of-the-moment. Salsburg and Elkington tastefully show enough dexterity to make the listener wonder, “How’d they do that?” without being too flashy. Rather, Avos is a slightly melancholy affair, with plenty of melodic, serene moments to match the six-string sleight-of-hand.

Buy it from Tompkins Square here: http://www.tompkinssquare.com/avos.html.

And don’t forget, Nathan will be playing a solo set with Glenn Jones this Friday at the Clifton Center. Details (including a link to purchase tickets) here: https://othersideoflife.wordpress.com/2011/10/10/glenn-jones-and-nathan-salsburg-at-the-clifton-community-center-friday-october-21st/.

Loren Connors, Red Mars (Family Vineyard)

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This week’s edition of the LEO Weekly includes my review of Red Mars, the new solo album by Loren Connors:

Guitarist Loren Connors toiled for decades in near-willful obscurity, self-releasing his recorded output under multiple pseudonyms. Only rarely in his early years did Connors work with other musicians, and as a result of his relative isolation, he developed a singular, insular style of playing guitar that, while inspired by the blues, thankfully never sounds “bluesy.” Despite his being diagnosed with Parkinson’s in the early 1990s, the rest of the world somehow caught up to Connors shortly thereafter, and he entered a still-ongoing fruitful period consisting of multiple collaborations (with avant-garde types such as Jandek, Jim O’Rourke and Keiji Haino), and the formation of his own band, Haunted House. Red Mars, his first truly solo release since 2004, harks back to Hell’s Kitchen Park, the first Connors record that I heard, way back in 1993; but it sounds even more desolately stark than previous efforts, an achievement I thought nearly impossible. As such, Red Mars is one of the darkest, sparest, listen-only-at-4 a.m. records I’ve ever heard. And that’s a compliment.

You can buy it from Family Vineyard here.

Colin Stetson, New History Warfare Volume 2: Judges (Constellation)

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Today’s edition of the LEO Weekly includes my review of Colin Stetson’s New History Warfare Volume 2: Judges:

Multi-reedist Colin Stetson presents an intriguing proposition on his second solo album, New History Warfare Volume 2: Judges: What would it sound like if the saxophone was used not as merely a vehicle for solo expression, but as a polyphonic, looping instrument in the service of highly abstract music? There are some antecedents in the modernist, multi-disciplinary work of Rova Saxophone Quartet, and perhaps Steve Reich, but Stetson’s approach bears few traces of any jazz tradition, apart from an occasional Albert Ayler-esque squeal. The result is an album of highly textural sounds that seem, at first listen, to have been created through heavy digital processing, but New History was recorded entirely live — with the exception of a French horn overdub, a guest vocal by Laurie Anderson and one by Shara Worden, of My Brightest Diamond, on a haunting version of “Lord I Just Can’t Keep From Crying Sometimes.”

Buy it from Constellation here.

Arbouretum, The Gathering (Thrill Jockey)

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Last week’s edition of the LEO Weekly included my review of the new Arbouretum record, The Gathering:

The last time a rock band cited Carl Jung as a primary influence was probably on The Police’s swan song, Synchronicity; but on Arbouretum’s new record, The Gathering, Dave Heumann has found inspiration in the father of analytic psychology’s posthumously published, hallucinatory “The Red Book.” The lyrics are darkly imagistic and dream-like, and perfectly match Arbouretum’s music, a hybrid of the heavy post-hardcore of Lungfish and the delicate melodic sensibility of 1960s-era British folk rock bands like Pentangle. High points include “The White Bird,” which sets the album’s ominous tone; “Highwayman,” a haunting ballad of reincarnation; and “Song of the Nile,” a sprawling 10-minute epic dealing with gnostic mythology. Heavy bands rarely sing lyrical concerns worth further exploration, but in The Gathering, Arbouretum has successfully turned the stuff of dreams into reality.

Buy it from Thrill Jockey here.